‘Repeal Obamacare’ Zealots Take A Last Gasp

Jonathan Bernstein points out the absurdity of those who think they can repeal it.

Yes, the 39th (!) Republican-instigated vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act is, as Steve Benen correctly says, an indication that the Republican Party has “a radicalized base that expects near-constant pandering.”

But if it’s not at an end yet, the end is finally near. Ezra Klein looks at the latest polling numbers from Kaiser and focuses on how little anyone knows about Obamacare — and that in fact, people seem to know less about it as time goes on.

I agree with Klein’s bottom line: Obamacare can have a hard implementation in 2014, but President Obama isn’t going to repeal it or even lose reelection over it (though congressional Democrats might). And by 2015, it will be insuring tens of millions of people, the health-care industry will have adapted and many businesses and ordinary Americans will be using the exchanges. At that point, no one is going to repeal it.

What I’d add is that “Obamacare” as such will probably stay as popular, or unpopular, as ever; Kaiser has consistently shown it fairly even, usually slightly below the break-even point. I suspect that won’t change.